EDUCATOR SPOTLIGHT | CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE CLASSROOMS
5 Strategies to Promote Culturally Responsive Classrooms
by Stephanie Clagnaz, Ed.D.
With only weeks left to the school year, students may feel tired, bored, or disengaged. We often implement new strategies at the beginning of the year and tend to attempt to keep students quiet and contained for the last weeks of school. However, the end of the year provides us with opportunities to do things differently to enhance student engagement, belonging and to increase learning. Culturally responsive teaching practices provide us with that opportunity. Consider trying any of the following culturally responsive strategies to keep students active and engaged as we wind the school year down.
Developing Relationships with Students
Many of us think about establishing relationships with students at the beginning of the year. Oftentimes, however, there are a few students with whom we haven’t quite connected. Treating students with respect and kindness is a good starting point. Consider asking for a student’s help with something or ensuring that we are pronouncing their names correctly. Let students see glimpses of who you are as a human being. Famed researcher John Hattie’s work assures us that healthy teacher-student relationships have a positive effect on student learning. Who are the students that you haven’t connected with yet? What next steps can you take to ensure that a positive relationship exists between you and your students before the year ends? It’s honestly never too late!
Fostering A Strong Classroom Community
Without students experiencing a sense of belonging to a community of learners, their connection to school will be limited. As the school year winds down, we have an opportunity to develop a sense of belonging for students who may not have felt that they are important. Consider a short term project in which student engagement looks and feels different from instruction that has typically taken place throughout the school year. Allow students to take the lead by coming to the front of the room and explaining their learning and thought processes. Coach peers on how to interact with students who may have felt like outsiders throughout the year. Encourage teamwork through an end-year project based learning endeavor. There may just be one or two students who leave their current classroom with a more positive attitude about their school experience.
Incorporating Varied Learning and Assessment Practices
One question to guide our thinking as we promote culturally responsive classrooms is: Am I providing different options for learning and assessment to leverage the strengths of all of my students? Think about the students sitting in front of you right now. Do they all truly benefit from reading the same texts? Can they all demonstrate what they’ve learned by taking a multiple choice test or would some be better off developing a slide deck to “show what they know”? Is it possible that some students may learn more if they were to work with a partner rather than working alone? As with other strategies that promote a culturally responsive classroom, the end of the school year provides unique opportunities to vary learning and assessment routines. Leveraging student assets and allowing them to learn and demonstrate their learning in ways that benefit them increases cultural responsiveness. Consider one way to create these kinds of moments now.
Communicating High Expectations for All
While public praise of students is important, we can communicate high expectations for all students in various ways, beginning with how we design instructional tasks. As we create learning environments, make sure to include tasks that require students to analyze and think critically about information rather than requiring them to solely engage in simple recall. Assist students in setting attainable goals to achieve deep learning and help them to monitor their progress toward their goals. Consider developing a protocol or check-list to guide students toward achievement of deep learning. Some students may need a scaffold to help achieve a goal and a device such as this helps build high expectations into learning tasks. Create a culture in which students receive and respond to feedback from adults and peers that improves their work. Finally, group students carefully, ensuring that learning takes place for all but that pathways to learn differ depending on what each student needs.
Facilitating Student Agency
Finally, build student agency as the year winds down. Start with one subject or project and incorporate ways to allow student voice to determine individual choice regarding how students learn and how they demonstrate their knowledge. What helps a child learn better or learn more: reading a text independently, working with peers reading a reader's theatre text orally, or buddy reading with a partner? In each of these choices, students acquire knowledge of the text, but they acquire knowledge in a way that they feel is best for them. Continue to develop and encourage student agency by listening deeply to what students tell you is the best way for them to learn. Encourage student innovation as well. Perhaps a student has a preference that we haven’t considered. Dr. Rebecca Adler describes student agency as follows: “Agency means choice and resources. In other words, as a learner, if I have agency in the classroom, my teacher has presented me with choices and with the resources I need to grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially. My teacher values and invests in me becoming resourceful on my own, becoming an independent learner, and wants me to have a voice in deciding the ways I will learn and how I will show my learning.” There is no better time than now to incorporate student agency in your classroom.
To learn more about how we can support you, please email excelerator@led-better.org, or schedule a call with us.
Additional Resources & Links:
